


Patched

by notimmortal



Series: Shattered [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, But that takes time, John's a bit of a jerk, M/M, Magical Realism, Not too angsty though, until he's not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 23:17:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7334977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notimmortal/pseuds/notimmortal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John had been Shattered before. The universe decided that he needed to experience a second Shattering.</p>
<p>Or, more simply, John's POV to Shattered</p>
<p>Note: I had originally posted this as a second chapter, but decided that it could be read as a stand alone fic. Added it to a series instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patched

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's block suck. 
> 
> I was working on a fic using this awesome idea a fellow tumblr member is allowing me to take on, but I hit a massive wall. Decided to revisit this work and work it from John's POV.

"Why do you always have to be such a bloody prick? Why do you have to do these awful things?" Before Sherlock could interject, John continued his rant. "Oh I know! It's because you're Sherlock Holmes! And no one and nothing is as important as you are. No one is worth anything, except for you. Everything must stop and wait for you. You don’t care about me, or anyone else for that matter. And guess what, Sherlock? I've had it. I'm done. Good luck with the case, and good riddance," John shouted, walking out the door and slamming it behind him.

 

John couldn’t believe all that he had just said to Sherlock as he walked away from 221B Baker Street. He felt a strange mix of guilt and anger in his stomach, completely unsure if he should turn around and apologize. Deep down he knew that he should, but the anger won out and John stuck to his guns.

 

He was about five blocks down from Baker Street when he heard a voice. “John Watson?”

 

John snapped his head around, looking at a lady who had appeared behind him out of nowhere. Before he could get a word in, the lady lifted her hand and blew a cloud of shimmery dust into his face.

 

John found himself looking at what seemed to be a younger Sherlock. He was sobbing in a corner of a room, needle in his arm. John spun around, locating the lady he had seen before. She waved her hand, making the world shift once more.

 

When the spinning stopped, John yelled, “What the hell was that?”

 

The lady smiled, “It’s what you needed.”

 

“Pardon?” That’s when John noticed his surroundings. They had changed completely. He was seated next to the lady in a cab. Across from him he saw Sherlock and himself. Sherlock was deducing him. “What’s going on?”

 

“I’m here on business,” the lady said. “And my business is to make you see this and understand it. Don’t worry, no one will be looking for you at this point. In fact, no time will have passed at all. This way, when you go back, you can make things right.”

 

John didn’t completely understand, but nodded anyway. “What am I supposed to be doing?”

 

“Tell me what you see.”

 

“I see me and Sherlock. It looks like that first night, in the cab. On the case with the pink lady.”

 

The lady then held up her hand. The scene slowed, and John could see little cues pop up by their faces. “Now, what do you see?”

 

“I see Sherlock. He looks… Surprised. He didn’t think I would take the deductions as well as I did. I also see his fear, he was worried that I wouldn’t like him from the start. Why are you showing me this?”

 

“Not important right now. Let’s move on.”

 

In the blink of an eye, John and the lady were standing in an unfamiliar flat. Before he could even open his mouth, the lady held up her hand and gestured for him to look into the room. When he did, he saw Sherlock being attacked by a masked man. He could hear himself yelling about how Sherlock always left him behind, suddenly understanding. “Are we in Soo Lin Yao’s flat?”

 

“Yes we are.”

 

“And that’s Sherlock,” John said, pointing to the man being strangled.

 

“Yes it is.”

 

“And this really happened?” John asked, a wave of guilt crashing over him, remembering how he reacted in the situation.

 

“Just watch, John,” the lady said. “Watch and listen,” John did as he was told, listening as Sherlock called out his name in a muffled tone, unable to get him to hear. “If you were about to die, what would you say?” the lady whispered into his ear. All John could hear was the muffled call of his name.

 

He closed his eyes, not wanting to look anymore. When the noise stopped, John opened his eyes to see the pool. “Oh, god, no.”

 

“Do you see the fear on his face?” the lady asked, pointing as John entered the pool. “Do you see the worry that you really were the adversary he was facing?” All John could do was nod. “Did you see the emotion on his face as he pulled the vest off of you?”

 

“Why are we doing this?” John asked. “Why are you doing this to me?”

 

The lady didn’t answer. “It’s time to move on.”

 

John saw himself and Sherlock at the Cross Keys inn. “I don’t have friends, John.”

 

“He just has one,” the lady said. “He just has you.”

 

“He has plenty of other friends now,” John said indignantly.

 

“Does he really?” the lady asked. “I mean, yes, Lestrade and Molly and Mycroft are there for him. But I wouldn’t consider that as plenty.”

 

Before John could say anything, the lady waved her hand, sending them to a new place. John looked over and saw Sherlock talking to Moriarty. “No. No, not here. Get me out of here.”

 

“I brought you to the other places to watch. I’ve brought you here to listen.”

 

And listen John did. He heard Moriarty tell Sherlock that he had to jump or himself, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson would be shot. He heard Moriarty shoot himself in the mouth, heard Sherlock call him as he stood on the ledge.

 

“Please,” John said, turning to the lady with tears in his eyes. “I’m begging you, take me away from here. I can’t watch this again.”

 

The lady just smiled, a terrifying smile, and waved her hand again. John hadn’t thought it could get worse, but it could. Before him, Sherlock was in chains being whipped. “What is this?”

 

“This is where he went, after he jumped,” the lady said simply. “He wasn’t off on an adventure, he was off on a death mission.”

 

“What did he have to do?” John said, his words barely a whisper. All the while, his eyes never left Sherlock.

 

“He was dismantling Moriarty’s web of people. Didn’t want there to be any chance that Moriarty could come back and hurt you.”

 

John had to tear his eyes away from Sherlock. “Did he succeed?”

 

The lady shook her head. “Mycroft had to pull him out early. He find him here, just how you see him now.”

 

“Why are you showing all of this to me?” John asked again, anger returning to him. “What do you hope to accomplish by this?”

 

“We’re almost finished, John,” the lady said instead of answering John’s question. “Just wait.”

 

“I can’t do anymore of this,” John said.

 

“Well that’s just too bad, isn’t it, John?” the lady snapped, waving her hand and showing John tackling Sherlock. “He still had open wounds here,” Another wave. John being pulled from the bonfire. “Suffered from intense burns here, all the while your fiancée did nothing.”

 

“Mary called an ambulance,” John protested weakly.

 

“And Sherlock pulled you from the fire,” the lady shot back. “Do you really not see it?”

 

“See what?”

 

The lady simply waved her hand again. It was his wedding night, Sherlock was sneaking off the grounds. “Did you even notice he was gone?”

 

“When was this?” John asked, voice falling soft again.

 

“Right after he deduced your wife to be pregnant. He figured it was time for him to go, he was completely replaced.”

 

“I…” Try as he might, John couldn’t come up with an excuse for what had happened.

 

“And of course, there was your wife shooting him,” the lady said, waving her hand. “But you still took her back.”

 

“Sherlock told me to! He all but begged me to!”

 

“BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPY!” the lady screamed. She waved her hand again, showing Sherlock on the plane, shooting up and reading John’s blog. “Did you know that his last words would’ve been ‘Goodbye, John’? Did you know that?”

 

“I…”

 

“Everything he did. Everything he did since the very start. All of it was for you,” the lady said, eyes glowing. “But that didn’t mean a damn thing to you did it?”

 

John thought about it all. He thought about everything he saw, everything he didn’t know before. “All I would’ve needed was-“

 

“One word,” the lady said. “I know. But you got your one word now and you’re already gone,” the lady looked at Sherlock, drawing John’s gaze back to him. “He loves you as much as you love him, you know.”

 

“I do now,” John said. “I… Take me back. Please. I understand why, why you did this.”

 

“That’s all I needed to her,” the lady said with a smile. “Now go back to him. Make things right.”

 

Between one heart beat and the next, John found himself back where he was when the lady first came to him. John broke into a sprint, heading back towards 221B. When he got inside, he saw Sherlock staring into space. “Sherlock?”

 

"John. You... Why are you here? You should be going, I thought you weren't..."

 

John ran to Sherlock and wrapped him in his arms. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

 

"John, I'm confused. What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Sherlock sounded almost frightened as he spoke to John, as if he weren’t sure everything around him were real. He tried to pull away from John, but John held him firmly to his chest.

 

"I was walking home, still blindingly mad at you. Then, out of nowhere, this lady appeared in front of me and blew some silvery dust onto me. All at once, I... I felt what you felt. I saw everything, from the time before me, to the first case, to know. I knew what you went through, what you did for me. Why you did it for me. And I realized that the feeling you have for me are the ones I've been hiding from you. Everything we've been through, you and me, I... I shouldn't have said what I said. You didn’t do what you did because you didn’t care. You did what you did because you care so much. You… You saved me, and look what I did in return."

 

"You were angry," Sherlock said, resting his chin on John's hair. "I... I had been expecting it for a while. If you can forgive me, then you are most definitely forgiven. But you don't have to forgive me."

 

"Sherlock, you git, of course I forgive you. I love you, Sherlock.”

 

Sherlock gasped lightly, pulling John even closer. "I love you too."

 

John pulled back, smiling lovingly at Sherlock. "I do have one question, though."

 

"What's that?"

 

"The dust, I recognized it. It’s Shattering dust," Sherlock stiffened in his arms, worrying John. Instead of stopping, John pressed on. "What did you wish for?"

 

"She asked me what I was wishing for, but all I could think of was you," Sherlock whispered. "I just wanted you to be happy, regardless of how you felt about me. Then you were here," Sherlock felt a line of wet on his face, realizing he was crying. John was too. “But what are we to do, John? You have Mary and the baby and-“

 

"I almost lost you again. I’m not going to go through that anymore,” John said firmly. “Mary Morstan, the woman I loved, doesn’t exist. Sherlock Holmes, the man I love with all my heart, does exist. I’m not leaving you again, Sherlock. Never again.”

 

“Come home?” Sherlock asked softly.

 

“Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos always appreciated but never required. As I said before, I'm currently working on another fic. I plan for it to be a longer one than I usually do. It'll take me some time, but I hope to have it up soon. Thanks for reading!


End file.
